I know you were asking about 48s but I have an Iron and the only things that held me back on long rides were vibration in the handlebars (this may not be a problem on 48 with different gearing) the seat and luggage. I took care of all that for less than $500.

Mustang seat and I can ride all day with no problem.

Installed Vibinators and my hands haven’t gone numb again. I tried filling the bars with lead and better grips but untill I installed the vibinators my hands would go numb in 20 mins.

A simple sissy bar took care of my luggage problem, now I can strap everything I need for a good long trip to the sissy bar. (If I rode two-up this might not solve my luggage issue).

With those three mods I can ride all day with no comfort issues however I also installed hwy pegs (my iron has mid controls). I am fine with the mid controls but if I get on a long straight boring hwy I will use my hwy pegs. I could live without this mod but it is nice sometimes. The 48 has forwards so this shouldn’t be an issue.

I also installed air shocks and it is an improvement but I could have lived without this mod as well.

As far as a sporty being a city bike I think that is BS I rather avoid the city if I can. I feel most at home on back roads. Hwy and city riding are fine I can do it all day but they are boring to me. The bike is fine with any kind of riding just my personal riding preference is back road riding.

 

You can do both This was almost halfway through my Ironbutt

 

One up, as long as I have a good seat, better rear shocks, good pegs and handlebars in the right place, I'll ride all day, every day, til work or home requires me to stop riding.

Here's a vid of a ride I took on my Sporty, and at the end of the day there were a lot of bagger riders complaining, Sporty was fine for me..it's all about setting it up right...which on a Sporty does not cost much at all.

 

Right on DK, nice Video, the countryside looked beautiful, must of been one hell of a ride..

 

Closed the video as soon as Geico ad came up. Phooey.

 

I have Ohlins rears and Progressive fronts. I can ride my 48 about 4 hours or so before I start to hurt. My bars are stock and my seat is reduced reach so not much cushioning. I'm short so I have to stretch and the position is just not conducive to longer rides. If I get on a freeway that has "ribs" on it I'm done. My hands will just ache so much I'll have to pull over. I need a mustang seat, better positioned bars and vibrinators and I think I'll be good ��. It is, however, WAY better than stock.....it was just unridable after 40 min or so. Terrible stock suspension. I weigh 150. If you as light as me you might have issues with the stock setup. My heavier friends are ok with it.

 

This really is a case of horses for courses, as the replies above show. Personally I wouldn't want to ride a 48 any further than round the block, however have done 250 plus mile days on my SuperLow, with aftermarket shocks and fork springs.

sroc3 has the 'Rolls-Royce' approach with his suspension set-up, which I envy, and can imagine that what he has done will transform any Sporty. I have Ohlins shocks on my Glide, which is a different bike with them, and am looking into an Ohlins front end upgrade for it at present.